Lodging

Pemaquid:

• Tops’L Farm
• The Bradley Inn
• Hotel Pemaquid
• Thompson Oceanfront Cottages in New Harbor
• Pemaquid Point Campground

Boothbay:

• Smuggler’s Cove Inn
• Fishermans Wharf Inn
• Tugboat Inn

Restaurants

Pemaquid:

• Shaws Lobster Warf
• Muscongus Bay Lobster
• The Bradley Inn
• Contented Sole
• Pemaquid Seafood
• VIP Maine Mobile Food Truck

Boothbay:

• Tugboat Inn

Shops/Galleries

• Pemaquid Crafters Co-op
• The Good Supply
• Sea Gull Shop
• Pemaquid Art Gallery

Maine is known for its rocky coastline that winds for over 3,000 miles, up and down peninsulas and around coves and bays. A tiny percentage of that is sand beach and while most coastal Maine beaches are located in southern Maine, New Harbor is home to a quarter of a mile of fine, white sand known as Pemaquid Beach or Big Beach.

This coastal pocket beach is an excellent place to spend a sunny, summer afternoon, building sandcastles, searching for hermit crabs, enjoying the beautiful view of John’s Bay, Maine and cooling off in its crystal clear waters.  The Bristol Parks Commission provides many amenities including changing rooms, hot showers, restroom facilities, snack bar, rental shop, and nature center.  Pemaquid Beach is less than 1 mile from Maine Kayak’s New Harbor Base on the same road.

The Pemaquid Point Light House is one of the most famous lighthouses in New England and is featured on the Maine State quarter. The lighthouse was originally built in 1827. Although the tower is only 38 feet tall, its location on the rock ledges of Pemaquid Point allow the light an 80 foot focal plane, visible for 14 miles. The Pemaquid Point Lighthouse is one of the only lighthouses in Maine allowing visitors to climb the steps to the top of the light.  

You can see Eastern Egg Rock, home of the southernmost nesting location for puffins, on a clear day. Tour the lightkeeper’s house fisherman’s museum, visit the gallery featuring local artists, stop into the adjacent gift shop and restaurant, or just enjoy the ocean views, tide pools, and rocky coast.  The Pemaquid Point Lighthouse is within a short, scenic drive of our New Harbor Facility. Follow Route 130 South for 4 miles past Maine Kayak’s New Harbor Base turn-off to the end of the Pemaquid Peninsula.

Monhegan is a small, rocky island, located approximately 10 miles off the coast of Maine. Monhegan Island is a haven for artists including the Wyeth family and offers amazing unspoiled wilderness that you can explore and the many island hiking trails and spectacular coastal scenery including high wall cliffs, lighthouse and harbor. Monhegan offers a quiet and relaxed island vacation experience with waterfront coastal Inns and quaint cottages, unique shops and galleries, excellent restaurants and the Monhegan Island Brewery.

Monhegan Island accessible only by boat – ferry service to the Island is available in New Harbor, just over 1 mile from Maine Kayak’s Base off Route 32.

Maine Kayak launches day trip and offers rentals from Colonial Pemaquid State Park, which couples interesting and rich history with spectacular coastal scenery. Home to Fort William Henry, Colonial Pemaquid is the location of the first settlement and trading outpost in the mid-1620s, offering the old foundations, the Colonial Pemaquid Museum, a 1695 cemetery, Captain’s house, interpretive tours, and Fort William Henry. A pocket beach provides the perfect launching site for Maine Kayak’s Johns Bay sea kayaking trips and kayak rentals and stand up paddleboard rentals.

Fort William Henry is open to the public and offers views of John’s Bay from the top of the tower and houses archaeological artifacts. The dock is home to a locally renowned restaurant, The Contended Sole. Colonial Pemaquid is located at the end of the Huddle Road, a short walk from Maine Kayak’s New Harbor Base.

Rachel Carson was an environmental pioneer and author of the famous book, Silent Spring, which exposed the impact of pesticides on the environment.  Prior to Silent Spring, Rachel Carson published The Edge of the Sea, which details her tidepool research in midcoast Maine.  The location of Rachel Carson’s research on the shore of Muscongus Bay, near the southeastern tip of the Pemaquid Peninsula has been designated as the Rachel Carson Salt Pond Preserve.  

The Rachel Carson Salt Pond Preserve offers 40 acres of preserve lands, hiking trails, and the opportunity to explore the very same tide pools that Rachel Carson once did.  The tide pools are resplendent with barnacles, periwinkles and crabs and offer an opportunity for exploration and quiet observation.  A 1+ mile trail at the woods adjacent to the preserve provides a quick but scenic hiking opportunity.  The Preserve is within 2 miles of Maine Kayak’s New Harbor Base on Route 32.

Maine Kayak’s Whitewater Program is offered in the beautiful Baxter State Park Region.  Baxter State Park covers over 200,000 acres in northern Maine. The Park is independently funded through a combination of revenues from trusts, user fees and the sale of forest products from the Park’s Scientific Forest Management Area and is home to the state’s highest peak, Mountain Katahdin.  

The Park offers wilderness hiking, ponds, campgrounds, picnic areas, and interpretive programs.  The wild West Branch of the Penobscot River, on which Maine Kayak’s Whitewater program is based, runs through the southwest corner of the Park.  The entrance to Baxter State Park is located 8 miles from Maine Kayak’s whitewater base.

Designated in 2016, Katahdin Woods and Waters covers over 85,000 acres of Maine’s great north woods. Recreational opportunities change with the seasons with  canoeing and kayaking, hiking, mountain biking, sightseeing and bird watching, and fishing offered in the warm weather seasons and cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling in the winter months.

The Park offers wilderness hiking trails, ponds and rivers, campgrounds, picnic areas, and interpretive programs.  The entrance to Katahdin Woods and Waters is just a short drive from Maine Kayak’s whitewater base.